Episode 75 – The Whisperer in Darkness – Part 2

Thanks again to guest Andrew Leman, reader Matt Foyer, composer Troy Sterling Nies and scholarly chanter Daniel Kaemon for jumping in on our coverage. And don’t forget to check out their film adaptation of the story, coming soon to a darkened corner near you!

We’re digging on our new site layout by Mike Mann – you can check out more of his work here.

Stay tuned, y’all – we’ll be back next week with the thrilling conclusion! BZZZZZZZZZ!!!

Very fun, as always. Can’t wait to see The Whisperer in Darkness. Hope HPLHS starts doing the radio dramas again.

One comment: In WWI several world powers experimented with gas masks for dogs. They look pretty awesome with the whole muzzle-hood and goggles set-up. So fully realistic for Lovecraft to include the detail.

Marcus Good on

April 28, 2011 at 1:44 AM

Chad’s description of the “friend” waiting for Wilmarth’s arrival, had me giggling. I have to imagine a lobster-man in a trenchcoat and fedora (badly fitting), holding a sign reading “MR. WELMORTH”, with comedic backwards Rs.
Great show, guys!

Another great show and I love the site’s new look. You guys do classy work.

Ross on

April 28, 2011 at 12:46 PM

Great job. I’d like to invite you guys to my place for a little chit-chat. I’m asthmatic, so certain conditions will have to be maintained (e. g., no lights), but I’m sure we can have a wonderful time. Please contact me at ross@yuggoth.com. Bzzzzzzzzz.

Mark on

April 28, 2011 at 2:18 PM

I just have to say that this particular story has the absolute dumbest lovecraftian-protagonist of them all. the willful ignorance of wilmarth is staggering. all of lovecraft’s heroes take forever to realize the truth and disregard mountains of evidence in order to convince themselves that what they’re clearly looking at is something prosaic and mundane, but wilmarth takes it to a whole other level. Miskatonic should fire him straightaway. i mean, who would buy they asthma story to THAT degree????

JB Lee on

April 28, 2011 at 6:58 PM

A long, long time ago DC Comics told us exactly why people can’t tell Superman is Clark Kent — the glasses have some sort of goofy Kryptonian glass in them, taken from the rocket he landed in as a baby, and it hypnotizes people into seeing Clark as different from Supes. No joke, it’s canon. Probably has electrons vibrating at a different rate or somethin’.

This was one of the funniest episodes ever; your discussion of dogs as the ultimate Mythos deterrent was the beginning of great sparkling fountains of absurdity. “So you’re the friend of the hermit who has no friends…” etc.

And yet, despite being such an easy target of dispassionate analysis, WHISPERER works when read, and works completely and unforgettably. More tribute to Lovecraft’s power as a writer; all that ridiculous stuff is utterly swept aside by the narrative’s hell-bound momentum.

LOVECRAFT MEANS BUSINESS, and it shows.

One is reminded of Joseph Stefano’s advice to would-be writers for his Gothic SF television classic “The Outer Limits”, which came along nearly thirty years after Lovecraft’s death, and often mined Lovecraftian territory: “There must be no apology, no smirk. Each drama, no matter how wordless or timeless must be spoken with the seriousness and sincerity and suspension of disbelief that a caring and intelligent parent employs in the spinning of a magic wonderful tale to a child at bedtime. Humour and wit are honourable; the tongue-in-the-cheek is almost often condescending and gratuitous. When the tongue is in the cheek it is almost impossible to speak in anything but a garbled, foolish fashion.”

Those words sum up Lovecraft’s aesthetic manifesto; it is that seriousness, sincerity, and suspension of disbelief that elevates his best work to the apex of horror fiction’s heights.

Really looking forward to seeing the movie, by the way — its trailers remind me of nothing less than “The Outer Limits,” and that’s a real, real good thing in my book.

Great job on this, guys. Of all Lovecraft’s stories, I find “Whisperer” and “The Dreams in the Witch House” the most frightening.

Marcus Good on

April 29, 2011 at 2:40 AM

I’m now reminded of another way the Superman/Clark thing has been done, and done well – Frank Quitely’s art in All-Star Superman. He has Clark standing stopped, shoulders hunched, looking awkward and ungainly. This posture is shed as Superman, and noone can tell. It’s very effective.

You can bet that I’ll be buying Troy’s music for this movie too. He just keeps producing wonderful stuff – and it’s right on the nose, much like Andrew’s narrations, it fits Lovecraft so well that it is magic to experience.

Looking forward to Part Three of TWID!!

Rick Thomas on

April 30, 2011 at 5:30 AM

Great show. Your site looks great, too. TWID is one of my favorites but after listening to your show, I started thinking about the old Bob Newhart show where he is an inn-keeper in Vermont. Larry and his two brothers, both named Daryl take on a whole new atmosphere when combined with this story.

Stephen on

May 3, 2011 at 3:56 AM

Magnum Innominandum…The Great That-Which-isnot-to-be-named…for fans of latin gerunds and gerundive

Alan Baker on

May 4, 2011 at 10:58 AM

Another great show about one of my all time fave HPL stories. One question: will The Whisperer in Darkness be released on Region 0 DVD, like The Call of Cthulhu? I sure as hell hope so, ’cause I live in England!

Rage on

May 6, 2011 at 10:55 AM

Look like it is not just the Mi-Go getting Akeley/Akley name wrong.:)

Lovecraft wrote a letter from Vermont to his aunt mentioning an artist recluse he visited named Bert G Akley. Bert seem to served as the model for Henry Wentworth Akeley:

(From ST Joshi Lord of a visible world)

I last wrote last Thursday, as I was about to go to the artist Akeley’s. At the proper time Charley Lee called for me-on foot , since the Ford was broken down and would take some time to repair. We walked cross-lots, thereby seeing some exquisite scenery which I would otherwise have missed. Akeley who lives alone in the ancient farmhouse shewn on the other side card, turned out to be a highly remarkable rustic genius

That whole Superman vibrating face thing is, unfortunately, right from the comics. It was an explanation put forth in the 80s, when they revamped the character for modern times. Because vibrating faces make MUCH more sense than Superman just being a really good actor…